LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Felix French CLOWRY
Service No: 402110
Born: Sydney NSW, 2 April 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 May 1940
Unit: No 38 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 38 Squadron Wellington aircraft N2756), off the North African Coast, 13 July 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Joseph and Edith Clowry, of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Roll of Honour: Canberra ACT
Remembered: Column 245, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2210 hours on 13 July 1941 Wellington N2756 took off to bomb Benghazi, Libya. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Other crews on the same mission reported seeing an aircraft in flames on the water one mile off Benghazi harbour. These reports could not be corroborated. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of N2756 were:
Sergeant Simon Michael Cashman (581498) (RAF)
Sergeant Felix French Clowry (402110) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Albert McDonald Smith Dargie (966123) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant Daniel Grocott (749432) (RAFVR)
Flight Sergeant John Philip Wilkins (758168) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Young (654691) (RAF)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/97/75